Irielo wrote:Just a question for you guys. When chapter 615 came out, what did you honestly think regarding Naruto's feelings?That chapter was imo Naruto showing reciprocity towards Hinata's feelings. Naruto has in this moment already given her what she was planing for the after war.

Hinata could already feel Naruto's feelings while holding his hand. Her memory of this moment in chapter 633 shows even another perspective where they look at each other in the eyes and where Naruto is smiling gently to her. She could read in Naruto's eyes and that made her happy and sure to be with Naruto "forever".

According to Hinata's reaction and intuition, she knows that she and Naruto will be together.

To come back to chapter 615, I know this moment blew up the mind of a lot of us, making us thinking that NaruHina was already canon. Why doubting about Naruto's feelings now?

The whole bag of new problems came with 631, where Naruto's joke about girlfriend was taken literally and seriously as a confession of his love to Sakura and her been shy about it in front of his father, where Minato said "Take care of my son" means that he blessed NS pairing. Yeah, I know how stupid this all sounds, but this is exactly what started bringing new arguments from opposite side.

At the very moment of 615 release, it was clear to me that NaruHina is canon and if somebody thinks it's not, then it will be definitely canon in the near future. And I still think so.

At first I was caught in NS trap with 631, but then thinking about it by myself and with 632, where Naruto confirmed, that he was making fun of Sakura, I was relieved.

Whatever the case is, the next moment isn't far away, I did a sort of math thingy, and I find that a NaruHina moment in the last 92 chapters has come at least every 18-19 chapters, so going by that we might get a nice moment at around 657-658, but that is a guess not a prediction, because I could be wrong.

but back on topic, we will find out soon anyway, I think it will be a positive reciprocation, it is like Kishi to keep things in the air, he ended the NaruSaku pairing in chapter 469-470 and 474, but he hasn't ended NaruHina, in fact we have been at certain times been given a teasing moment of Kishi's plans for NaruHina

51-mustang wrote:Whatever the case is, the next moment isn't far away, I did a sort of math thingy, and I find that a NaruHina moment in the last 92 chapters has come at least every 18-19 chapters, so going by that we might get a nice moment at around 657-658, but that is a guess not a prediction, because I could be wrong.

but back on topic, we will find out soon anyway, I think it will be a positive reciprocation, it is like Kishi to keep things in the air, he ended the NaruSaku pairing in chapter 469-470 and 474, but he hasn't ended NaruHina, in fact we have been at certain times been given a teasing moment of Kishi's plans for NaruHina

but don't forget tho that all those moments we didn't expect. even if you did a math thingy lol kishi can be unpredictable just like our knucklehead naruto.when naruto looked at hinata with his eyes opened and smiling, to me he had that look of wanting. it was like,' I finally understand now,its you who I want '

another thing you guys if that hand holding was so called 'platonic' according to it, then why did naruto switch position of hands. I mean he could've just left it the way it was. I think it was then and there naruto made a decision on who he wanted by his side and I think in the next moment, when we get naruto's pov of the hand holding, I think we will get naruto remembering itachi's words about his father becoming hokage(for naruto it would be hero for now,if you guys get what I mean) because he had his mother kushina and all the others. for some reason I have a feeling that when we get that moment I just described, kurama might have something to say.

Batokusanagi wrote:It was a comedic moment indeed, but Naruto was actually sad that Yagura supposedly died without kissing (which was the whole point of the joke, that it wasn't true that Yagura was little kid who had experienced life) a girl and it makes sense that a 16 year old boy would want to kiss a girl. Hell, he already tried to steal a kiss from Sakura in part I.

True that romance is a subplot (which doesn't mean it hasn't been important, it's actually been a driving force for some characters motivations) and there hasn't been a shipping moment in a while (though in in-story time, 615 happened hours ago at most. Though this is kinda irrelevant to if there'll be an open ending or not), which makes sense considering there's a war with many lose ends to close. But the moments (which is why I mentioned 615 and cover) are there and the foreshadowing is there (Hinata's entire monologue, minus the "after the war" part, came true; so even when Kishi is accused of being inconsistent, he wasn't in this particular case). What evidence is there that an open ending even makes sense? "Kishi might troll/not address it" is just not evidence. So, if you're just gonna tell again that Kishi might troll or just not address pairings without any actual indication of that, then we'll just agree to disagree, because I just don't think that's an argument.

As for a part III, from Kishi's own statements, it doesn't seem like there's going to be one.

Driving force for some characters, yes. But the only ones I can think of are Hinata and Sakura. Romance is important to Hinata and Sakura, but for characters like Naruto and Sasuke: it is just not simply as important. Now before you get all defensive, I'm not saying what Hinata has done for Naruto was not important, I'm just saying based off what Naruto has deemed as important: dealing with Obito and Madara, then Sasuke and then taking up the mantle as hokage superceeds his love life. We can agree to disagree on the open ending part.

If there isn't then there'll be a lot more of Naruto before we come to a conclusion.

Batokusanagi wrote:It was a comedic moment indeed, but Naruto was actually sad that Yagura supposedly died without kissing (which was the whole point of the joke, that it wasn't true that Yagura was little kid who had experienced life) a girl and it makes sense that a 16 year old boy would want to kiss a girl. Hell, he already tried to steal a kiss from Sakura in part I.

True that romance is a subplot (which doesn't mean it hasn't been important, it's actually been a driving force for some characters motivations) and there hasn't been a shipping moment in a while (though in in-story time, 615 happened hours ago at most. Though this is kinda irrelevant to if there'll be an open ending or not), which makes sense considering there's a war with many lose ends to close. But the moments (which is why I mentioned 615 and cover) are there and the foreshadowing is there (Hinata's entire monologue, minus the "after the war" part, came true; so even when Kishi is accused of being inconsistent, he wasn't in this particular case). What evidence is there that an open ending even makes sense? "Kishi might troll/not address it" is just not evidence. So, if you're just gonna tell again that Kishi might troll or just not address pairings without any actual indication of that, then we'll just agree to disagree, because I just don't think that's an argument.

As for a part III, from Kishi's own statements, it doesn't seem like there's going to be one.

Driving force for some characters, yes. But the only ones I can think of are Hinata and Sakura. Romance is important to Hinata and Sakura, but for characters like Naruto and Sasuke: it is just not simply as important. Now before you get all defensive, I'm not saying what Hinata has done for Naruto was not important, I'm just saying based off what Naruto has deemed as important: dealing with Obito and Madara, then Sasuke and then taking up the mantle as hokage superceeds his love life. We can agree to disagree on the open ending part.

If there isn't then there'll be a lot more of Naruto before we come to a conclusion.

To the bold: That's why Naruto himself recognized that he would not have made it that far without Hinata when he was thanking her to have always been by his side etc. This acknowledgement from Naruto to Hinata showed some maturity from him. Instead of thinking that he reached where he reached only on his own, he has realized that love is important in his life too.

That's the same process with friendship. This feeling that Naruto has now: not to be alone, motivates him to fight Obito with all his heart and that's actually what was portrayed in the last chapters. Again, bonds either through friendship, parental love or romantic love is a repetitive and a main concept in the manga.

Irielo wrote:Just a question for you guys. When chapter 615 came out, what did you honestly think regarding Naruto's feelings?

That he views Hinata more then just a friend. Reguardless of what NS says, holding someones hand is a romantic gesture. Even now Naruto is fully aware of how Hinata feels about him and what she is willing to do for him (even Neji reminded him on his death bed). 615 also strengthened what bonds they have/share.

Even before 615 other characters have bee noticing something growning between them, so take it for what it is.

As a neutral, i didn' see 615 coming at all. Kishi blind sided me (and the rest of us) with it.

bricksquad88 wrote:Driving force for some characters, yes. But the only ones I can think of are Hinata and Sakura. Romance is important to Hinata and Sakura, but for characters like Naruto and Sasuke: it is just not simply as important. Now before you get all defensive, I'm not saying what Hinata has done for Naruto was not important, I'm just saying based off what Naruto has deemed as important: dealing with Obito and Madara, then Sasuke and then taking up the mantle as hokage superceeds his love life. We can agree to disagree on the open ending part.

If there isn't then there'll be a lot more of Naruto before we come to a conclusion.

Bolded: that was kinda my whole point, but okay...

As for the importance of romance in this story, can't forget Obito, Minato, Kushina and Konan, Asuma and Kurenai. Naruto may have other priorities for the moment, but what's your point exactly? As long as he is interested in one, that's enough.

lily567 wrote:I got a question, do you think that hinata is closer to naruto than sakura?

Regarding the hours spent together as teammates, that's logical that Naruto came close to Sakura the same way Hinata is close to Shino and Kiba. But Hinata reaches a place in Naruto's heart that Sakura can't reach. Her words and her behavior towards Naruto have always a positive influence on the latter which shows that she understands and knows him truly and sincerely.

lily567 wrote:I got a question, do you think that hinata is closer to naruto than sakura?

Regarding the hours spent together as teammates, that's logical that Naruto came close to Sakura the same way Hinata is close to Shino and Kiba. But Hinata reaches a place in Naruto's heart that Sakura can't reach. Her words and her behavior towards Naruto have always a positive influence on the latter which shows that she understands and knows him truly and sincerely.

racefan1992 wrote:

lily567 wrote:I got a question, do you think that hinata is closer to naruto than sakura?

As teammates? Sakura

For pretty much everything else? Hinata.

hmm I figured this as much. sakura and naruto are teammates so logically they are somewhat close but with hinata, naruto is closer to her through experience, understanding each other etc.yes sakura and naruto's bond strengthened in part 2 but the bond naruto has with hinata was stemed from part 1 basically and grew even more in part 2 especially in chapt 615

lily567 wrote:hmm I figured this as much. sakura and naruto are teammates so logically they are somewhat close but with hinata, naruto is closer to her through experience, understanding each other etc.yes sakura and naruto's bond strengthened in part 2 but the bond naruto has with hinata was stemed from part 1 basically and grew even more in part 2 especially in chapt 615

Naruto and Sakura's bond strengthened because of the gap left by Sasuke. They were both missing him and wanted him back. There is Kakashi as well. As their Sensei, he felt responsible for this situation and he tried to support their goal of bringing their friend back. That's why he trained Naruto and that's why he had to fight against Sasuke when Sakura tried to deal alone with the latter. I would thus say that the bonds between Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi strengthened in part 2.

As far as Naruto and Hinata's bonds are concerned, to me, the blood vow is already a strong symbol that set up this bond. And just observing how Hinata and Naruto interacted from part 1 until now, one can notice how they understand each other perfectly. If that were not the case, they would not have been able to influence and support each other the way they did.

Do you remember, how difficult and even a little embarassing it was for Naruto to shake Gaara's hand as a friend (in the end it was Gaara, who help him shake hands)? But with Hinata, he took and squeeze her hand on his own, while gently smiling to her and looking right into the eyes. That's how strong his feelings towards her, so that he even don't hold himself back to show it with romantic gesture and words of gratitude.

bricksquad88 wrote:Driving force for some characters, yes. But the only ones I can think of are Hinata and Sakura. Romance is important to Hinata and Sakura, but for characters like Naruto and Sasuke: it is just not simply as important. Now before you get all defensive, I'm not saying what Hinata has done for Naruto was not important, I'm just saying based off what Naruto has deemed as important: dealing with Obito and Madara, then Sasuke and then taking up the mantle as hokage superceeds his love life. We can agree to disagree on the open ending part.

If there isn't then there'll be a lot more of Naruto before we come to a conclusion.

Bolded: that was kinda my whole point, but okay...

As for the importance of romance in this story, can't forget Obito, Minato, Kushina and Konan, Asuma and Kurenai. Naruto may have other priorities for the moment, but what's your point exactly? As long as he is interested in one, that's enough.

OK.

Regarding the importance of those characters romantic lives is a stretch at best. The only characters out of that list whose 'romantic lives' have had any impact on the story are Obito, Minato and Kushina. And I wouldn't even count Obito because Rin didn't even know how he felt. It would have made more sense to say Rin's death had an importance in the story due to the path Obito decided to choose as a result of it. Don't even get me started on him. And with Minato and Kushina their 'romantic lives' resulted in Naruto yes, but Kishimoto BARELY looks at their lives aside from a little bit when they were children and the events of Naruto's birth. So I find your response to be a bit weak.

bricksquad88 wrote:Driving force for some characters, yes. But the only ones I can think of are Hinata and Sakura. Romance is important to Hinata and Sakura, but for characters like Naruto and Sasuke: it is just not simply as important. Now before you get all defensive, I'm not saying what Hinata has done for Naruto was not important, I'm just saying based off what Naruto has deemed as important: dealing with Obito and Madara, then Sasuke and then taking up the mantle as hokage superceeds his love life. We can agree to disagree on the open ending part.

If there isn't then there'll be a lot more of Naruto before we come to a conclusion.

Bolded: that was kinda my whole point, but okay...

As for the importance of romance in this story, can't forget Obito, Minato, Kushina and Konan, Asuma and Kurenai. Naruto may have other priorities for the moment, but what's your point exactly? As long as he is interested in one, that's enough.

OK.

Regarding the importance of those characters romantic lives is a stretch at best. The only characters out of that list whose 'romantic lives' have had any impact on the story are Obito, Minato and Kushina. And I wouldn't even count Obito because Rin didn't even know how he felt. It would have made more sense to say Rin's death had an importance in the story due to the path Obito decided to choose as a result of it. Don't even get me started on him. And with Minato and Kushina their 'romantic lives' resulted in Naruto yes, but Kishimoto BARELY looks at their lives aside from a little bit when they were children and the events of Naruto's birth. So I find your response to be a bit weak.

Thank you for giving the answer yourself (bolded). Thanks for acknowledging that love is a factor which has a big impact on the story. Let's look at the main character, the hero of the story, Naruto:

-Naruto had the goal to be respected and acknowledged: The first time the people of Konoha showed him some respect was after his match against Neji. They saw his potential and applauded him. Then he protected the village while fighting Gaara when the latter went on rampage. All of that happened after Hinata's Proud Failure Speech...

-Naruto wanted to achieve something great for the village: He defeats Pein and thanks to his "talk No Jutsu" with Nagato, those who have been killed came back to life. After this fight, Naruto is celebrated like the new hero of Konoha. That happened after Hinata's confession.

The hero himself recently (according to the story time), loudly acknowledged Hinata's support in his life. He knows that she loves him and understands that her actions and words helped him in decisive moments. He has now realized how much love is important to his life.

-One of the big goals of Naruto is to become Hokage. I sincerely don't think that after having behaved in such a way to Hinata during the "It's all in your eyes" and the handhold moments, that he will refuse or reject love to help and support him to achieve his dream because by thanking Hinata, Naruto showed that now he consciously knows what love can do to him.

bricksquad88 wrote:Driving force for some characters, yes. But the only ones I can think of are Hinata and Sakura. Romance is important to Hinata and Sakura, but for characters like Naruto and Sasuke: it is just not simply as important. Now before you get all defensive, I'm not saying what Hinata has done for Naruto was not important, I'm just saying based off what Naruto has deemed as important: dealing with Obito and Madara, then Sasuke and then taking up the mantle as hokage superceeds his love life. We can agree to disagree on the open ending part.

If there isn't then there'll be a lot more of Naruto before we come to a conclusion.

Bolded: that was kinda my whole point, but okay...

As for the importance of romance in this story, can't forget Obito, Minato, Kushina and Konan, Asuma and Kurenai. Naruto may have other priorities for the moment, but what's your point exactly? As long as he is interested in one, that's enough.

OK.

Regarding the importance of those characters romantic lives is a stretch at best. The only characters out of that list whose 'romantic lives' have had any impact on the story are Obito, Minato and Kushina. And I wouldn't even count Obito because Rin didn't even know how he felt. It would have made more sense to say Rin's death had an importance in the story due to the path Obito decided to choose as a result of it. Don't even get me started on him. And with Minato and Kushina their 'romantic lives' resulted in Naruto yes, but Kishimoto BARELY looks at their lives aside from a little bit when they were children and the events of Naruto's birth. So I find your response to be a bit weak.

Thank you for giving the answer yourself (bolded). Thanks for acknowledging that love is a factor which has a big impact on the story. Let's look at the main character, the hero of the story, Naruto:

-Naruto had the goal to be respected and acknowledged: The first time the people of Konoha showed him some respect was after his match against Neji. They saw his potential and applauded him. Then he protected the village while fighting Gaara when the latter went on rampage. All of that happened after Hinata's Proud Failure Speech...

-Naruto wanted to achieve something great for the village: He defeats Pein and thanks to his "talk No Jutsu" with Nagato, those who have been killed came back to life. After this fight, Naruto is celebrated like the new hero of Konoha. That happened after Hinata's confession.

The hero himself recently (according to the story time), loudly acknowledged Hinata's support in his life. He knows that she loves him and understands that her actions and words helped him in decisive moments. He has now realized how much love is important to his life.

-One of the big goals of Naruto is to become Hokage. I sincerely don't think that after having behaved in such a way to Hinata during the "It's all in your eyes" and the handhold moments, that he will refuse or reject love to help and support him to achieve his dream because by thanking Hinata, Naruto showed that now he consciously knows what love can do to him.

When I look back at the past chapters, Itachi told something to Naruto that would make him think, his father became Hokage because he had Kushina and his friends, this is a similar situation that Naruto is finding himself in, when we look at chapters prior to him saving Hinata it was like he was trying to find an answer, he got the best answers from his mother and Itachi.

So maybe Naruto is realizing that Hinata is the one that will help him become Hokage, So maybe now Naruto is realizing that he does need Hinata to support him when he is feeling down, that maybe he does need Hinata moral support.

the amazing thing is Hinata never forced it, but in the end we are starting to see Naruto show signs of a reciprocation of Hinata's feelings, but personally I think that will have to wait until after this fight.

51-mustang wrote:When I look back at the past chapters, Itachi told something to Naruto that would make him think, his father became Hokage because he had Kushina and his friends, this is a similar situation that Naruto is finding himself in, when we look at chapters prior to him saving Hinata it was like he was trying to find an answer, he got the best answers from his mother and Itachi.

So maybe Naruto is realizing that Hinata is the one that will help him become Hokage, So maybe now Naruto is realizing that he does need Hinata to support him when he is feeling down, that maybe he does need Hinata moral support.

the amazing thing is Hinata never forced it, but in the end we are starting to see Naruto show signs of a reciprocation of Hinata's feelings, but personally I think that will have to wait until after this fight.

When Naruto said that "My life was never mine...", he admitted that he would not have made it that far without Hinata being by his side. So he already knows how important Hinata is to his life. He has now realized that Hinata is a treasure that he has to cherish. When Hinata was standing with Neji and Hiashi in front of him to protect him, he was worried for her. He did not want to see her getting hurt the way she got hurt when she fought Pein. That showed imo that Naruto does not want to lose her at all.

One can say that Naruto does not want to lose any of his friends but he showed how much he especially cares for Hinata during this moment.

51-mustang wrote:When I look back at the past chapters, Itachi told something to Naruto that would make him think, his father became Hokage because he had Kushina and his friends, this is a similar situation that Naruto is finding himself in, when we look at chapters prior to him saving Hinata it was like he was trying to find an answer, he got the best answers from his mother and Itachi.

So maybe Naruto is realizing that Hinata is the one that will help him become Hokage, So maybe now Naruto is realizing that he does need Hinata to support him when he is feeling down, that maybe he does need Hinata moral support.

the amazing thing is Hinata never forced it, but in the end we are starting to see Naruto show signs of a reciprocation of Hinata's feelings, but personally I think that will have to wait until after this fight.

it is here in 615 that naruto understood what itachi meant as well as his mother and I think that is what his mother meant when she said find someone like her(well partly, the other is find someone who loves you as much as I do etc)When Naruto said that "My life was never mine...", he admitted that he would not have made it that far without Hinata being by his side. So he already knows how important Hinata is to his life. He has now realized that Hinata is a treasure that he has to cherish. When Hinata was standing with Neji and Hiashi in front of him to protect him, he was worried for her. He did not want to see her getting hurt the way she got hurt when she fought Pein. That showed imo that Naruto does not want to lose her at all.

One can say that Naruto does not want to lose any of his friends but he showed how much he especially cares for Hinata during this moment.[/quote]yes I agree with you and I would add that it shows how strong his feelings for hinata is compared to the others(sakura included)[/quote]

bricksquad88 wrote:OK.Regarding the importance of those characters romantic lives is a stretch at best. The only characters out of that list whose 'romantic lives' have had any impact on the story are Obito, Minato and Kushina. And I wouldn't even count Obito because Rin didn't even know how he felt. It would have made more sense to say Rin's death had an importance in the story due to the path Obito decided to choose as a result of it. Don't even get me started on him. And with Minato and Kushina their 'romantic lives' resulted in Naruto yes, but Kishimoto BARELY looks at their lives aside from a little bit when they were children and the events of Naruto's birth. So I find your response to be a bit weak.

Not in the least. Your view of what the story is, is too narrow if you ignore Asuma and Kurenai. And ignoring Konan (and Yahiko) (two of founding members of Akatsuki) just confuses me. As for Minato and Kushina, why are you trying to make this about how much focus they've gotten? My point is about their effect to the story which goes beyond producing Naruto. Lastly, Obito. No way to overlook his obvious romance-based motivation, so obviously he counts. Rin not knowing his feelings (she actually did, fyi) is irrelevant and I'm not completely sure why do you even bring it up. Seems to me you think that " the story" is just Naruto, Obito and the Juubi. It's not. There's been subplots and character arcs Kishi's developed (and closed) in the course of the manga. Those also count as "the story"

-Strong enough to make a blood vow when he was not forced to do it. I admit at this time that it was not necessary the kind of romantic love we are thinking about but by going to the extent of making a blood vow on Hinata, Naruto showed that Hinata was already in his heart.

-Strong enough to look for Hinata to dedicate her his victory after his match against Neji.

-Strong enough to listen to her words and let them influence him either during the PF speech or after Neji's death.